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ALKYLATION OF ISOBUTANE WITH 2-BUTENE WITH IONIC LIQUID AS A "CLEAN" CATALYST
Citation:
Yoo, K., V Namboodiri**, P. G. Smirniotis, AND R S. Varma*. ALKYLATION OF ISOBUTANE WITH 2-BUTENE WITH IONIC LIQUID AS A "CLEAN" CATALYST. Presented at 18th N. American Catalysis Society "Green Chemistry and Engineering Through Catalysis", Cancun, Mexico, 06/1-6/2003.
Description:
Alkylation of isobutane with 2-butene with Ionic liquid as a "clean" catalyst
Kyesang Yoo, 1 Vasudevan V. Namboodiri,2 Panagiotis G. Smirniotis,*1 and Rajender S. Varma*2
1 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0171, USA.
E-mail: panagiotis.smirniotis@uc.edu
2 Clean Processes Branch, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA. E-mail: Varma.Rajender@epa.gov
Abstract:
Due to environmental concerns, the widespread use of alkylation process is limited by the polluting and corrosive liquid acid catalysts (HF and H2SO4). Both these processes share inherent environmental and safety concerns associated with acid spillage and waste disposal. The present study evaluates the use of 1-alkyl,3-methylimidazolium halide-AlCl3 ionic liquids as clean catalysts for the alkylation of isobutane with 2-butene. These ionic liquids mainly consist of tetrahaloaluminates as anions and are highly acidic (Hammett acidities up to -18) that provide best activity. Among various ionic liquids examined, the one bearing relatively longer alkyl side chain (Octyl) showed highest activity, presumably due to the enhanced solubility of substrates in the catalyst media. The ratio of alkylation products trimethylpentane (TMP) to dimethylhexane (DMP), over 1-octyl,3-methylimidazolium bromide-AlCl3 ionic liquid is found to be 0.3 which is comparable to the selectivity obtained with commercial sulfuric acid catalyst (0.5) under identical experimental conditions. The studies on the catalytic properties of these unique liquids via variation of anions will be presented.